And the Mountains Echoed

" Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read and beloved novelists in the world. His novels have sold more than 38 million copies worldwide. Now, six years after A Thousand Splendid Suns debuted at #1, spending fourteen consecutive weeks at #1 and nearly a full year on the hardcover list, Hosseini returns with a book that is broader in scope and setting than anything he's ever written before. A multigenerational-family story revolving around brothers and sisters, it is an emotional, provocative, and unforgettable novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. With profound wisdom, insight, and compassion, Hosseini demonstrates once again his deeply felt understanding of the bonds that define us and shape our lives and of what it means to be human. Review: An Amazon Best Book of the Month, May 2013: Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed begins simply enough, with a father recounting a folktale to his two young children. The tale is about a young boy who is taken by a div (a sort of ogre), and how that fate might not be as terrible as it first seems brilliant device that firmly sets the tone for the rest of this sweeping, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel. A day after he tells the tale of the div, the father gives away his own daughter to a wealthy man in Kabul. What follows is a series of stories within the story, told through multiple viewpoints, spanning more than half a century, and shifting across continents. The novel moves through war, separation, birth, death, deceit, and love, illustrating again and again how people's actions, even the seemingly selfless ones, are shrouded in ambiguity. This is a masterwork by a master storyteller. - Chris Schluep